Rainbow Hair and Pumpkin Guts
by WickedPancakes
Summary: Seth Jacobson is an ordinary kid, or so he believes. Things began happening late in one school day. Is this summary good? No. Is this story good? I certainly think so. So come read it!
1. Prologue

Prologue

Seth's P. O. V.

The fluorescent light buzzed. A fly flew lazily across my field of vision, confidant in the knowledge I was a very live and let live sort of guy. The teacher in the front of the classroom droned on and on about the decline of Rome or some such topic. "Why can't we hire decent teachers?" I thought to myself, "We're a private school; we're supposed to have the money for them." Let me introduce myself. My name's Seth Jacobson.

Today's October 31st, known by all as Halloween, but known by me as the day my life did a flip upside down. It was 2:05 in the afternoon, and the droning man in front of me was going on about the Huns. Ordinarily, it's one of my favorite topics, but his voice made it unbearable.

"If there was a zombie apocalypse," I mused, "He'd be the only survivor; he'd be the only one able to speak to them!"

Time. Stopped.

I had spoken aloud.

The teacher quit speaking, and stared at me, mouth agape. I felt 23 pairs of eyes drilling into the back of my head. Then, as one being, my classmates burst into cruel laughter. My shame and anger burned like a furnace around me. I thought my flesh was going to catch on fire, when, all the caps flew off every water bottle in the room. The windows flew open, and winds pushed papers all around the room.

Their laughter died instantly. The teacher's mouth closed and reopened and he intoned,

"Stand up and face the class, Seth."

I did as he said, and faced my class. Every one of them wore cruel smiles on their faces, and lava-from-a-volcano bright red eyes. I turned to my teacher, half suspecting what I would see. I was half wrong, it turns out, he shared their cruel smile, and pointed teeth, but his eyes were the dark of the abyss, not red.

He rasped in an ancient voice, "Greetings, bastard son of Hecate. Prepare for the end."

My class and teachers skin did something that can only be described as melting. Beneath this, they were creatures made of shadow and fur. I did the only thing I could think of. I ran.

I sprinted down the hallway, running faster than I knew I could. I felt light headed, and was hallucinating that my body was changing back and forth. One moment, 5'7 and slightly chubby with green eyes and dirty blonde hair, the next, six feet even, with a slim, but muscular physique with what I later learned to be hazel eyes and brown hair so dark it was almost black. I heard a collection of eerie howls coming from behind me and I picked up the pace. I made it to my locker, and hurriedly undid the lock as I heard the horde moving quickly.

I grabbed my phone.

"Damn it," I hissed, "Out of battery."

Then I had a stupid and rather reckless idea. I did have tennis practice this afternoon, so, I grabbed my tennis rocket.

"What a ridiculous way to go," I mumbled, "defending myself from a pack of God-knows-whats with a tennis racket. The howls got closer, and I heard them running. The end of the day bell rang, but only one person walked out. Of course, of all the people in the school, it was Craig.

I probably should explain. I am completely and irrevocably in love with Craig. He's a 6'1 swimmer, gets average grades, except for math, he's a math prodigy. I met him last year, and ever since second semester of that year, I've had a little bit of stalker crush. Well, maybe more than a little bit. Figure-out-his-schedule-to-get-maximum-sight-time little bit of a crush. Strike that, it's not a crush. It's love. I knew it since I first really saw him. It was during Biology class, and while learning about alleles and Gregor Mendel, it just hit me. He was the one. But, it's a constant boxing match in my head, between hating him and loving him. Sometimes he's sweet and nice and perfect, and other times he's a total jerk. It's kinda hard to explain, so I won't go into any detail. He turned around and looked down the hallway, and seeing the monsters, his eyes widened, and he promptly fainted.

He woke up only a few seconds after he passed out. The horde was running full speed, but thank God it was a long hallway. I knew he saw through the illusion that at first I had not seen through.

"Wha-what the fu-"he stuttered.

But before he could finish his profanity, the tennis racket in my hand gave a shudder as though it recognized the situation and the enemy that was quickly approaching. It burst into flame, and became something heavier, but still well balanced. When this happened, the flickering between body types ended.

Almost as if the transformation of my tennis racket had helped it be decided I had finally stayed in the muscular form. Craig no longer towered over me, we saw eye to eye. He took one look at me and cringed away. He. Fucking. Cringed. I wanted to die. I looked so much better than I had before, and he doesn't like how I look? What the fuck is that? I was enraged and depressed at the same time. My vision gained a reddish tinge.

I lunged towards the Horde with my former tennis racket, now black and gold curved sword in hand, and let out an unearthly yell.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Percy's P.O.V.

It was a busy day at camp. Today was Halloween, a holiday the Hecate cabin insists on taking over. I was on a hill, and I noticed that Tally, the Canadian girl, was levitating streamers on trees, and floating up Jack-O-Lanterns at intervals between trees. David, also of Hecate, was poring over an old scroll, summoning swarms of bats for the night's festivities. All in all, a pretty usual day. I was going to camp year round because my mother and Paul took off for their year round honeymoon cruise, which Poseidon insisted on paying for.

I looked around and saw my now ex-girlfriend Annabeth helping her siblings plan for capture the flag last night. The Hecate cabin were sitting it out, because they were designing the traps and terrain. Tally (the Canadian girl) was the best illusionist camp had ever seen, and so they were trying to account for all possibilities. There was a rumor going around that they were going to try for the moon (literally), but that rumor was quashed firmly.

Annabeth and I's break-up wasn't messy or anything. It was just that over time, I couldn't think of her like that. We were friends and nothing more.

It was a sweltering summer day when I told her, and she was very understanding. She only asked one question. "Percy….."She inquired cautiously, "Are you gay?

I didn't know how to respond. I stood there like an idiot.

"I'm not sure," I responded, "maybe."

"Well, if you figure it out, tell me ok?" She replied.

"Ok," I stated dumbly, "I will."

From that hot August day, I tried to figure it out. I forced myself to gaze at shirtless guys, scantily clad girls, porn magazines in the Hermes cabin, everything. Nothing did it. I felt a slight attraction to a few different people of both genders. The Stoll Brothers. Drew from Aphrodite. I have to admit, I had a tiny thing for Grover, but when he got suspicious because of the whole empathy link thing, I stamped it out.

Through September and most of October, the number of girls dwindled, and the number of guys rose. Fletcher. Even Nico. Gods I'm such a pedophile. Then I extended the list to people I felt something for before, but was too stupid to notice it. Luke. He was one of the strongest attractions, but nothing like it was supposed to feel like. Beckendorf. Castor.

I thought of Mr. D, wondering what he was doing on a day so many of us were having fun. When I felt the ripple of desire rent through me, I felt disgust tear through like an earthquake chasing after it. I hated that god. "This must be the real deal," I thought to myself, "I need to tell Annabeth that I, Perseus Jackson, am gay."

Annabeth's P.O.V.

I was planning for capture the flag that evening when I see Percy sprinting down a hill. He calls, "Annabeth!" I mutter something about being right back to my siblings and run up to meet him.

"Let's take a walk." He suggests.

One lengthy walk later, we stop in front of his cabin as I consider his evidence for his being gay.

"I think you're right," I state matter of factly, "now what are you going to do about it?"

With these words, I turn my back on him, leaving him lost in thought, as I walk back to my cabin.

Percy's P.O.V.

It had been 3 hours since I had talked Annabeth, and I was still mulling over her question. What was I going to do about it? There wasn't anybody special, so for now, the answer was nothing.

It had just turned dark, and the jack o' lanterns that Tally had hung crackled with unearthly green fire. Her powers were pretty impressive, as she was the new cabin counselor. She sported unusual, but great looking hair colors, and today's was rainbow. In the center of camp, there was a massive jack o' lantern, just like in that ridiculous movie, Halloweentown, that glowed with the same green fire, being circled by the bats David had summoned hours earlier.

Some of the new campers screamed as they saw the bats. I chuckled darkly and thought to myself, "If that scares you, you are not cut out for this gig..." When everyone had approached and lined up, Chiron began to speak.

"Greetings campers," he began, "Tonight will begin the Halloween themed capture the flag, the Hecate cabin has designed the traps and terrain, so they will be sitting out. The Cabin Captains will be-"

!

A miniature explosion had occurred exactly where the pumpkin was, and chunks of orange pumpkin guts splattered over everyone. In its place was one of the most attractive guys I had ever seen in my entire life, untouched by the pumpkin goo. He had dark brown hair, piercing hazel eyes that locked on to mine immediately. He was glowing bright red, and he held a curved sword with black and gold designs on it. It looked to be a combination of celestial bronze and Stygian iron.

Everyone stared at this new comer, we had seen many surprising arrivals, but this one took the cake. I heard Tally cursing the stranger under her breath for ruining her beautiful creation.

The only one that looked unsurprised was Chiron, which I took to mean that there was a prophecy of some sort about this boy. I looked again at this boy, and I heard a voice speak to me in my head, "Hey Percy, I'm Seth."

I turned around to look for someone who had said these words. I didn't find anyone, so I went back to staring at the boy. He did a little wave, and pointed to himself, and mouthed, "That was me, think something."

I did as he asked, just by trying to think in his direction, "How did you do that?"

He responded back, "I'll tell you and Annabeth later. Sorry, I was going through your thoughts."

"No biggy," I thought.

Chiron chose this moment to speak. "It looks like capture the flag is canceled, "Seth, you need to come with me. You may speak to Percy and Annabeth later." It was only later that I wondered how Chiron knew his name.


	3. Chapter 2

Percy's P.O.V.

It had been two hours since Seth had arrived at camp, and I couldn't get my mind off him. He had captured my imagination more than any other guy had, even Luke. It was dark outside my cabin, and me and Annabeth were sitting on a bed, talking about Seth. She was under the impression that he _must _be the one for me. I would be happy to agree, but my discovery of myself left me more cynical than optimistic.

"What are the odds of him being gay?" I asked. "Even if he was, the odds that he was attracted to me were even smaller. He said hi. Big. Deal. He was just being friendly. Friendliness does not equal gayness."

"Yes I know gayness is not a word!" I snapped, seeing her mouth about to open. She closed her mouth and grinned.

"You know what I think?" she said, "I think you're getting defensive because you like him, and you hope he's the one for you as well."

As I turned away from her and harrumphed, she laughed and exclaimed in a triumphant voice, "Hah! I knew it. I can see right through you Percy Jackson, and I see that you've fallen for Seth, hard!"

I harrumphed again, and finally, my shell cracked. I grinned at her.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked meekly.

"Nah," She replied, "I just know you better. Oh gods, how would Grover react! He would fli-"

"We can't tell him," I interrupted with a panic look in my eyes. "He got suspicious before, this would kill our friendship if he found out when he got back."

Grover was on a quest to save the wild, which required much traveling, and we rarely saw him now a days.

"Fine, fine," Annabeth said, brushing me off, "I agree, we can't tell him. Or the camp. At least until you get together with Se-, I mean someone."

I glared at her, I hadn't missed her slip-up.

"Agreed," I said, " And, we don't tell Se- I mean anyone I may like until we're sure he feels the same way. Now, when is he gonna get here?"

No sooner had the words left my mouth; I heard a knock on the door of the cabin. I sprang up, and made a conscious effort to look slightly presentable. Annabeth understood what I was doing, and fixe my hair. I strode across the room, and opened the door, looking into his piercing eyes, and perfect face.

"Er, Hi guys." He said awkwardly.

"Annabeth, this is Seth," I said nervously, "Seth, Annabeth."

He flashed her a white smile, the same smile that made me weak at the knees when I first saw him.

"Hey!" said Annabeth, returning his smile," have a seat."

"Oh no thanks," he said in return," We need to go somewhere without any ears."

I understood what he was saying. I wondered how many demigods and satyrs were outside of my cabin, desperate to hear the new guys' story.

"Ok," I said, "where should we go?"

"Allow me," he said, with yet another breath taking grin.

He reached out, and did a motion that looked like turning a door knob, and a doorknob appeared. He ran his finger in a large rectangle around the doorknob, and a door appeared. Ignoring our soft gasps of shock, he grabbed the doorknob, and opened. He gestured to Annabeth.

"Ladies first."

And with that, we walked into one of the most bizarre places I had ever been, and I had been to _a lot _of places. The walls were covered in a dark red wallpaper, and the carpet, was thick and beige. There were no modern light fixtures, only torches with different colored flames. On one wall, there was a cupboard of books that look to be attempting to escape, on the other wall; there were half a dozen doors in different shapes, colors, and sizes.

Next to these doors, was a long hallway, almost seeming to go on forever, with different doors and staircases. I jogged to see if I could reach the end of the hallway, but I didn't even get halfway. I looked at the staircases. They were upside down, sideways, zigzagged, transparent, tiny, enormous, and one I'm not even sure was allowed to exist under the laws of physics, nature, and the U.S. government. I ran back to the room where Annabeth and Seth were talking. From the small bit I heard, they seemed to be discussing architecture outside, considering there was an open window, and Annabeth kept pointing and glancing it.

I was curious to see what she was so excited about, so I looked out the window. Outside, there were life-sized replicas (or maybe the originals) of every major architectural masterpiece for the last 3,000 years. I stared out at the Colloseum, the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, the Pyramids, The Great Wall of China, and so many more I did and did not recognize. All I could do was stare at the magnificence and size of it all.

I finally pulled my eyes away from the window, and looked back to the pair of them, that was looking expectantly at me. I cried, "What?" and they cracked up. If it was even possible, he looked even better while laughing. His nose did this thing when it crinkled, and it almost sent me to my knees.

"So," I said defensively, "are we gonna talk or what?"

"Sure, sure" he said, "One sec."

He crossed his eyes and three arm chairs appeared, where there certainly had been no arm chairs before. As he sat down, I noticed a miniature book hanging on a chain around his neck.

"What is that?" I asked, pointing at the book.  
>"That's part of what I'm going to tell you," He said, giving me a wry smile, "but I'm afraid that's very close to the end of my story, and we need to start with the beginning."<p>

"Sounds good to me!" Said Annabeth, "Let's hear it."

Seth's P.O.V.

"Ok," I said, "Here we go."

' I was conceived on December 21st 1995, my parents, were Apollo, god of the sun, and Louise Hart. Now, you may not recognize that name, not many people do. She was a member of Artemis' Huntresses.'

I smile as I watch ripples of shock go through them. They're both about to open their mouths when I hold my hands, gesturing for silence.

'Now, it wasn't under free will, no ma'am. The god Eros was on a rampage that night, because Hecate had forbidden him to go shooting on one of her feast days. He decided that he would take out his rage on the brother and sister gods, Apollo and Artemis. Now, Apollo shouldn't have been in that forest in the first place, it was the day when he was the least strong, but that wouldn't stop him from catching up to his sister for the day of bonding she had promised in a note. Now, the reality was, the note was not sent by Artemis, but by Aphrodite, who had a knack for forging handwriting. When Apollo got to the place "Artemis" was supposed to meet him, he saw Louse Hart.'

'Now, Louise Hart was a daughter of Aphrodite, so she was not an unattractive girl, it was just that, the Hart family girls had a reputation for beauty, (Aphrodite had visited before, almost unheard of on Olympus) but she didn't quite live up to her sisters status, little did she know, that she had the gift of persuasion. But, she decided to renounce men, and her gifts of persuasion and most of her unearthly beauty, and become a Huntress. So there she was, thinking she was trapping a dangerous beast for Artemis, when Eros, from high above, knocked two arrows, and hit both, straight over the heart. The two looked at each other with lust filled eyes, and threw themselves at each other.'

The two before him had gone quiet, as if they were anticipating the next part of his story.

'Now, as you can imagine, the Lady Artemis had set up some sort of way of knowing if one of her Huntresses was in danger, or was in violation of the contract. So, she, in her fury, was speeding along to the quickly, from the other side of the world, in Syria. But, Hecate took pity on the girl, for she knew of Eros' rage, and she used her magic, and possessed Louise, and replaced her mortal womb, with her divine womb. I would be part-human yes, Louise's' body ensured that, but I would greater than any demigod. I would not be immortal, no, but I would not be like most demigods. The nearest thing I can think of, that would even begin to explain it, is to say, that I am an elf. No, not like those tiny jolly things in your "Santa Claus" stories, no, more like The Sidhe. Strong. Magical. Beautiful. (I half-smiled at Percy's blush.) Enduring. I will die, yes, but not for a very, very long time.'


	4. Chapter 3

Percy's P.O.V.

"Now that I have embarrassed you with the story of my conception, I'm gonna speed up to what led to my, uh, arrival." said Seth, and for some reason, he looked sad, and ancient beyond his years. I refused to deal with the knowledge of how long he would live, and would not answer Annabeth's glances.

"Now, Artemis had arrived, and Hecate left Louise's body, and snared Eros, as to explain. Artemis listened to all of the evidence, and punished no one involved, except for throwing Eros halfway around the world, and promising Apollo a 'talk' later. My mother, or rather, step-mother, as I call her now, was weeping. Artemis took her with her to Syria, and the Middle East, and to the extent of my knowledge, there she stayed, leading the branch of Huntresses there, while Artemis is away." He continued.

"But wait," said Annabeth, "If she stayed in the Middle East, who did you live with? Who birthed you? Hecate or Louise?"

"Good question, " He said, "We're coming to that now."

"Now, the way Hecate had cast the spell, I was supposed to sort of slip through her divine womb, keeping some powers, but be carried and born from my mortal mother. Unfortunately, she put too much of her essence into it, and her womb remained solid, keeping me, soaking in her divine essence for 3 months. 3 months you say? 3 months. Goddesses decide how long they bear the mortal children. She chose 3 months, because it would help her become her role of the mother, because, as you know, she has 3 forms, and around December, that is the form expected of her. So she carried me, December to January, January to February, and February to March. Just as she was expected to become the young girl, she gave birth to me, and she imparted to me all these memories I'm sharing with you, and many more, that I will receive, when I become the right age, or have the need." He went on.

"The right age? Have the need?" I asked.

"Yeah, she set ages on all sorts of memories, the first age I gained some memories, was 16 years, 10 months, 6 days. It would've been longer, I was supposed to receive the first memories on my 18th birthday but, the glamour was broken. Anyway, before we get to that, I need to address Annabeth's question about my mortal parents. They were lovely people, Sue and Jack, they believed me to be their biological child. They were rich and put me through private school for many years. Strange isn't it? A child of the Greek gods, in a private Christian school. But, I had to hide. Being the child of 2 gods and a human made my aura like candy for any monster within 500 miles, so my mother used her most powerful, ancient magics, and created a glamour. Now, a glamour, as you may know from the movie, The Craft, is a sort of illusion on a physical object. Naturally, she had to use my entire body, so she used a spell of light. She could've used a spell of darkness, but those who spend too much time under one, become much more predisposed to evil acts."

I looked at him. I wouldn't care what kind of acts he committed, as long he committed a few with me… Stop that! You've only just met that guy. Down hormones. Down. Stay. Good boy. Here's a treat.

"So, since she knew that darkness would break a light spell, even if it was powerful as she, she instilled in me three great fears in that glamour. The fear of the dark, the fear of death, and claustrophobia. There were caving trips that I went on, they almost broke it, and I remember feeling woozy during one in my 8th grade year. That was the year when I first discovered I had power. It wasn't intentional, or even cool. I had realized one time sitting in Math, that I had been controlling the pencil on my desk with my mind the entire time. I tried with heavier things, I could move pieces of papers and erasers, but not people, not even a textbook. By freshman year, I had stopped doing it intentionally, but it was a habit I had picked up, so when I was bored, I would subconsciously move papers, pencils, pens, anything. To my delight, I discovered that I could also lift some of my smaller text books, just by pointing my finger, and letting it hover. The other things I could do with just my mind."

I could see Annabeth's mind moving a mile a minute, and I have to admit, mine was going almost as fast. To have that kind of power… It must have been incredible.

"For the rest of my story," he began, "I'm going to let you see it from my eyes. Percy, you did something similar to this a few hours ago. But, that was more like a conversation. This is more like reading a book, and then having a book club. Annabeth, I think you're mind will be suited for this, in most instances, they will seem very three dimensional, with emotions and thoughts and feelings and everything. But for some things, all you will get is the 5 senses, and no thoughts. I ask you to respect my privacy, and for the love of the gods, do _not_ try to see more than I show you. Ok, I'm gonna try and talk you through this, but I'm not sure if it'll work. Percy, do you remember how to think at me? Just direct the stream of thoughts in my direction. That's right, wait was that?'

"Nothing!" I squeaked. Thank the gods he had not seen my comment about him earlier.

"Ok, whatever. So now I need you to close your eyes, and I'm gonna pull on your stream of thoughts, and it should act like a rope, pulling you to my mind. Annabeth, I'm throwing a rope to you made of my thoughts, so visualize tying it around yourself, and I'll pull you over too. Also, Annabeth, close your eyes too. Nice. Ok Percy, this isn't gonna feel good, just don't open your eyes. One, two, three!

I felt my stomach flip, and my brain flipped right after it. I heard Seth's voice much closer than before.

"Hey, are you here? Oh there you are, you can open your eyes.

If I thought the house we were in was strange, I hadn't seen anything yet. I was in the center of an ocean of kaleidoscopes patterns, with everything changing and shifting around me, but these weren't nonsense patterns, these were pictures, _memories¸ _something told me. I heard Annabeth give a startled gasp behind me, so I knew it had worked for her too.

"It's ok Annabeth," I said, "You can open your eyes."

She did, and her jaw dropped.

"What?" She breathed, "How?"

"I know right?" I said, "The oceans pretty amazing."

"What are you smoking?" she retorted, "Do you not see all his memories, poured out on blueprint papers, but still in color? And they're moving!"

"What?" I responded, "Obviously, you're on drugs. We're in an ocean, can't you-"

"Guys!" Seth shouted, trying not to laugh "It's different to everyone, or at least, everyone I've checked with, which isn't really that many, I suppose. No one's on drugs."

He looks for something in the sky and says, "There! Annabeth, pull down that scroll, Percy, you see the giant rain drop? Grab it."

We do as he says, and we're transported through 16 years of Seth's life. I'm drawn to the explanation of his power, so there are very little flat spots. Annabeth, is absorbed in the books he's read, and his high school experience, seems to have the opposite problem. I become absorbed, as flashes of potions, spells, and magic flash by.

Seth's P.O.V.

I had pegged Annabeth as being the one to find it, and I was not disappointed. I saw her furrow her brow, and go through several months of high school memories until she found what she was looking for, she gave a gasp and headed straight over to me.

Annabeth's P.O.V.

I walked over to Seth, and said, "Let's you and me have a talk. Tell me about Craig. Show me the rest of the memories. I know there's stuff missing. Like how you got here. How the glamour broke. Please Seth. Let me help. Let Percy help. Let him finish this memory, then call him."

"Are you sure?" he said, "Wouldn't Percy freak out?"

My heart broke when I saw how important Percy was becoming to Seth.

"Nah," I said, determined to seem casual, "He's pretty open minded."

He's open to something else too, I thought to myself, but I made sure I buried it deep in my thoughts.

"So, why couldn't you just find our if Percy was cool with that?" I asked.

"You've been on Facebook right? Well most people have something just like a profile page, just a place with superficial memories, and things about them, and some stuff they did recently. The mind is very similar. When I try to get beyond that in Percy, I just get caught in a huge ocean. With yours, I see huge monuments that I would get lost in. I would never get out. The reason my mind changes for you guys, is because I invited you, so it changes to help you adjust."

"Ah," I replied, "So, why didn't you experiment with your powers during your sophomore year?"

"I'm not sure." he said earnestly, "It just felt like someone was telling me 'Not now, someone's watching.' Now that I know more, I think it was Hecate, or some part of herself she left to help me."

At this moment, Percy had finished the memory, and looked up at the two of us. I beckoned him over to us.

Percy's P.O.V.

I walked over to the 2 of them, and Seth pulled out the miniature book that he had dangling from his neck. He undid the clasp and pulled it off his neck. Annabeth pointed at the strange writing on the front.

"Whats that language? I recognize parts of it, but others, I've got no clue." She said

"It's Phoenician," he said, "and it means Ocean Eyes."

His eyes shone with tears, and I grappled with a fierce desire to hug him. Annabeth gasped, as though something had clicked into place and did what I was thinking about, she embraced him, with him standing a good 6 inches above her. She whispered something into his ear that sounded something like "Tell him."


End file.
